Russian court imprisons Pussy Riot band members on hooliganism charges - CNN.com Russian court imprisons Pussy Riot band members on hooliganism charges By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN Updated 11:24 AM ET, Sat August 18, 2012 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Photos: Show of support for Pussy Riot Women in waiting – Pussy Riot band members Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass-walled cage during a court hearing in Moscow on Friday August 17. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Show of support for Pussy Riot Feminist solidarity – The court case has sparked demonstrations of support across Europe and the U.S. An activist from feminist group Femen cuts down an Orthodox cross in Ukraine, erected in memory of victims of political oppression, in a show of solidarity with the punk band. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Show of support for Pussy Riot Writing on the wall? – A man walks past pro-Pussy Riot graffiti in Moscow.

Band members were charged after screaming "Mother Mary please drive Putin away" during a concert inside Christ Savior Cathedral, in February. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Show of support for Pussy Riot Colorful support – Campaigners wear the band's trademark colorful balaclavas in a demonstration outside the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Show of support for Pussy Riot Political protest – Pro-Pussy Riot demonstrators gather in St. Petersburg. Putin criticized the band's action earlier this month but said they should not be judged "too harshly," according to state-run news agency RIA Novosti. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Show of support for Pussy Riot Cagey subject – Supporters sit locked in a mock defendants cage outside a Moscow court. The band members have been charged with hooliganism aimed at "inciting religious hatred." Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Show of support for Pussy Riot Pussy Riot masks – Demonstrators wear Pussy Riot-style masks outside a Moscow court. Singer Madonna also donned one of the masks during a recent gig in the city, telling the audience: "Everyone has the right to free speech, everywhere in the world.

Maria, Katya, Nadia, I pray for you." Hide Caption EU foreign policy chief says case adds to "upsurge in politically motivated intimidation" The three women were sentenced to two years' imprisonment for hooliganism They sang a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in a protest at a Moscow cathedral Arrests were made outside court as the verdict was delivered, state media reported Three members of Russian female punk rock band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison Friday after they were found guilty of hooliganism for performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in a church. The five months they have spent in detention since their arrests in March count toward the sentence, Judge Marina Sirovaya said. The judge said the charges against the three young women -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- had been proved by witnesses and the facts. The Pussy Riot members were charged after screaming, "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away," in a protest act in February inside Christ Savior Cathedral, one of Moscow's grandest houses of worship.

MUST WATCH Female punk band mocks Putin, is jailed 02:55 Sirovaya rejected the women's defense that they were acting from political motives, ruling that they had intended to insult the Russian Orthodox Church and undermine public order. However, the fact that two of them have young children was a mitigating factor in the sentencing, the judge said. The defendants were accused of offending the churchgoers present -- through their actions, obscene language and their clothing -- and showing a lack of respect for the rules of the Orthodox Church. They ignored requests to stop their brief unscheduled protest performance, the court heard. While their actions outraged many of Russia's faithful, their high-profile trial prompted international concern about freedom of speech in Russia. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said on its official Twitter feed that the sentence was "disproportionate." European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the court's decision as "deeply troubling." "Together with the reports of the band members' mistreatment during their pre-trial detention and the reported irregularities of the trial, it puts a serious question mark over Russia's respect for international obligations of fair, transparent, and independent legal process," she said.

Pussy Riot and Russia's surreal 'justice' "It also runs counter to Russia's international obligations as regards respect for freedom of expression." Urging Russia to reverse the sentence, Ashton said the case "adds to the recent upsurge in politically motivated intimidation and prosecution of opposition activists in the Russian Federation, a trend that is of growing concern to the European Union." Rights group Amnesty International said that the court's decision was "a bitter blow for freedom of expression in the country" and that the women were now "prisoners of conscience." Amnesty believes that the women's conduct "was politically motivated, and that they were wrongfully prosecuted for what was a legitimate -- if potentially offensive -- protest action," it said in a statement. Supporters vent anger on Twitter John Dalhuisen, director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Program, urged Russian authorities to overturn the sentence and release the trio unconditionally. He also highlighted recent measures "restricting the freedom of expression and association" introduced after a wave of popular protests that accompanied elections earlier this year. "This trial is another example of the Kremlin's attempts to discourage and delegitimize dissent. It is likely to backfire," he said.

Human Rights Watch also said the women should never have been prosecuted for a hate crime. "The charges and verdict against the Pussy Riot band members distort both the facts and the law," Hugh Williamson, the rights group's Europe and Central Asia director, said in a statement. Earlier, a number of arrests were made outside the court, where protesters gathered as the verdict was read, RIA Novosti reported. The women are expected to appeal the court's decision. The charge of hooliganism aimed at inciting religious hatred carried a potential sentence of up to seven years in prison. None of the three women is older than 30. They have been in custody since their arrest shortly after the unexpected performance. They looked calm and occasionally smiled and exchanged remarks as they stood, sometimes in handcuffs, behind a glass wall in the court, listening to the lengthy ruling.

Moscow district court heard that the three worked together to carry out their "criminal act which violated public order" -- in an action that "went against tradition and is a great insult to the church and people." The three wore revealing, brightly colored clothing and covered their faces with balaclava-style masks in a style "inappropriate" for a church before making use of a microphone and electric guitar, the court was told. Video footage of the "punk prayer" protest song was placed online, although the judge said it was not clear who had posted it. Sirovaya said that the apologies by the defendants "were not sincere" and described their conduct as "an unprecedented act of hooliganism by women." Celebrities back Pussy Riot Evidence from character witnesses for the three women was also read out. Alyokhina was described as being a writer of poetry, a vegan and a good mother, RIA Novosti said. Pop star Madonna last week performed Pussy Riot-style in a face mask and with the group's name on her back during a packed Moscow gig. She's one of a number of celebrities to back the women's cause. "Everyone has the right to free speech, everywhere in the world.

Maria, Katya, Nadia, I pray for you," Madonna said at Tuesday's concert, according to RIA Novosti. "They did something brave with their action. And I am praying for their freedom." Rallies in support of Pussy Riot were also organized Friday outside Russian embassies around the world, including in London and Washington. Putin criticized the women's action this month but said they should not be judged "too harshly," RIA Novosti said. He added that he hoped the court makes "the right decision." Pussy Riot specializes in sudden, often illegal public performances, including one in Moscow's Red Square. The "punk prayer" was inspired by the women's anger about the relationship between the Russian government and the Orthodox Church, according to the band's manager, who is married to one of the women. The Orthodox leader Patriarch Kyril has been widely reported as saying Putin's years in power have been a miracle from God. Putin won reelection to the presidency in March in a vote that international observers said did not meet international standards. The presidential election came just months after allegations of fraud in parliamentary elections prompted the largest anti-government demonstrations Russia had seen in two decades.

Pussy Riot gets prison for Putin protest | MSNBC Pussy Riot gets prison for Putin protest 08/17/12 12:21 PM Members of the all-girl punk band "Pussy Riot" Yekaterina Samutsevich (L), Maria Alyokhina (C) and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (R) sit in a glass-walled cage during a court hearing in Moscow on Agust 17, 2012. Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images Three members of the Russian feminist punk-rock collective Pussy Riot were found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison today on charges of “hooliganism with intent to incite religious hatred.” Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Ekaterina Samutsevitch were arrested in March by Russian authorities after the women performed an anti-Putin mock prayer and demonstration on the steps of Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. The Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, accused the women of blasphemy, and called for the women to serve prison time for their actions.

In a blatant, though sadly not surprising, show of hypocrisy, Judge Marina Syrova told the courtroom as she read the verdict for the Pussy Riot members that the Russian government “guarantees the equality of rights and freedoms” for citizens. Syrova also accused the women of offending Orthodox believers, and said repeatedly that the women’s protest was motivated by religious hatred, a charge that the band has denied. Protesters around the world reacted immediately after the verdict was read, declaring August 17 as Pussy Riot Global Day . Crowds in Russia outside of the courtroom clashed with police, and family members of the band publicly condemned the court’s decision. “We are going toward Iran and Saudi Arabia where one can be stoned no religious grounds,” Samoutsevitch’s father said. Tolokonnikova’s husband added, “It’s the end of the judicial system in Russia.” The Pussy Riot trial has been a point of political contention over the last few months, further fueled by Putin’s re-election as president in March.

In her closing statement to the court, Tolokonnikova addressed the country’s oppression : ”We did our punk performances because what reigns supreme in the Russian state is a caste system, a closed system, a system set in stone. And the politics are led by narrow corporate interests. So much so that even the air in Russia causes pain to us…. I want to weep when I look at how the Russian Federation’s legal and judicial system is debased by the tactics of the inquisition. But from the moment of our arrest we have not been able to weep, we have forgotten how to cry. We shouted at our punk concerts the best we could, shouted out about the unlawfulness of the government, and look! They stole our voice. During the whole trial they have refused to listen to us, or to understand us.” Meanwhile, Pussy Riot released a new song and video today, “Putin Lights Up The Fires,” that includes footage from the condemned church performance. Update, 1:40 p.m.: The White House administration responded to the verdict , saying they are “disappointed” with the verdict.

”While we understand the group’s behavior was offensive for some, we have concerns about the way these young women were treated by the Russian judicial system,” White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said. Check below the jump for images from around the world as Pussy Riot supporters react today to the news. Pussy Riot | Punknews.org Recent Stories Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk rock protest group based in Moscow. Founded in August 2011, it has a variable membership of approximately 11 women ranging in age from about 20 to 33. The group stages unauthorised provocative guerrilla performances in unusual public locations, which are edited into music videos and posted on the Internet. The collective's lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights, and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the group considers a dictator, and to his links with the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church. On February 21, 2012, five members of the group staged a performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The group's actions were eventually stopped by church security officials.

By that evening, the collective had turned the performance into a music video entitled "Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!" The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leader's support for Putin during his election campaign. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill I, said the performers were doing the work of the devil. On March 3, 2012, two of the group members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was arrested on March 16. Denied bail, they were held in custody until their trial began in late July. On August 17, 2012, the three members were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred", and each was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Two other members of the group, who escaped arrest after the February protest, reportedly left Russia fearing prosecution. On October 10, following an appeal, Samutsevich was freed on probation and her sentence suspended. The sentences of the other two women were upheld.

In late October 2012, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were sent to separate prisons. The trial and sentence attracted considerable criticism, particularly in the West. The case was adopted by human rights groups including Amnesty International, which designated the women prisoners of conscience, and by a number of prominent entertainers. Public opinion in Russia was generally less sympathetic towards the women. Putin stated that the band had "undermined the moral foundations" of the nation and "got what they asked for". Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he did not think the three members of Pussy Riot should have been sent to jail, but stressed that the release of the remaining two imprisoned members was a matter for the courts. Having served 21 months, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were released on December 23, 2013, after the State Duma approved an amnesty. In February 2014, a statement was made anonymously on behalf of some Pussy Riot members that both Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were no longer members.

However, both were among the group that performed as Pussy Riot during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where group members were attacked with whips and pepper spray by Cossacks who were employed as security. On 6 March 2014, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were assaulted and sprayed with green paint by local youths in Nizhny Novgorod. Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot jailed for singing anti-Putin song - World Socialist Web Site World Socialist Web Site Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot jailed for singing anti-Putin song By Vladimir Volkov 18 August 2012 Three members of the Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in jail yesterday for singing songs critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin. They have been on trial in Moscow since July 30. They were charged with disorderly conduct and “disparaging the venerable traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church” for an unauthorized performance by Pussy Riot at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (CCS) in Moscow on February 21 of this year.

The group has a large number of members, who all wear masks when performing and try to keep their identities secret. The three on trial, who have already been in jail for half a year, were Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samusevich. Two of them have small children. A video of this performance and another one two days earlier at another Moscow church led to the current case. The women, who had come to the other church with electric guitars and amplifiers, were escorted out by security guards when they attempted to play. The video, which soon appeared online, shows that Pussy Riot viewed its act as a political statement. The chorus to the song goes, “Mother of God, make Putin go away!” Shaped by postmodernist and feminist theories, the group’s outlook aligned it with many of the middle-class organizations active in the protest movement that began last December over the rigging of Russia’s parliamentary elections. Two of the three women were arrested on March 3, the day before the presidential elections in which Vladimir Putin was elected to a third presidential term. The procedures of the trial of the three members of the punk group were marked by crude violations of due process.

During the hearings, the accused sat in a glass “aquarium,” as if they were a danger to society; communication with their lawyers was impeded. Almost all the witnesses for the defense were denied permission to testify, while people who were not even present during the event were admitted as witnesses for the prosecution. The court tried to forbid journalists from reporting witnesses’ testimony. The prosecutor demanded that the women be sentenced to three years in prison. Justifying the court’s decision to impose a two-year term, Judge Marina Syrova said, “The girls’ actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church’s rules.” She added the three were guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, an assertion calculated to anger Russian Orthodox believers. Defense attorneys plan to appeal the verdict. The trial is a deliberate attempt by Russian authorities to silence public opposition by imposing draconian punishments in trumped-up trials for public criticisms of Putin or the Russian Orthodox Church. Many famous singers and performers—including Sting, Madonna, John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono, and the groups Faith No More, Franz Ferdinand, and Red Hot Chili Peppers—have announced their support for Pussy Riot. Under Russian law, the actions of Pussy Riot are not subject to criminal prosecution.

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior (CCS) in actual fact does not belong to the Orthodox Church, but to the Moscow government. Each year, several hundred million rubles of public funds are devoted to its maintenance; the Orthodox Church only rents the building. The trial gave various Western imperialist politicians the opportunity to hypocritically posture as friends of democracy while criticizing Putin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government has repeatedly insisted that Greece must impose unpopular austerity policies whatever the opinion of the Greek electorate and parliament, denounced the verdict. She called it “not in harmony with the European values of democracy and the rule of law to which Russia has pledged itself as a member of the Council of Europe.” The Kremlin’s actions are not merely a signal to the protest movement that the authorities are prepared to resort to harsh repression against it, but have a broader political and ideological context. They are preparations for suppression of opposition in the working class and a further turn to the right on the part of Russia’s gangster oligarchy. Incapable of fashioning any coherent argument for its legitimacy, the oligarchy that emerged from the liquidation of the USSR and the plundering of Soviet public assets is now moving towards an explicitly religious basis for its rule.

The pro-Kremlin mass media openly call for elimination of the separation of church and state. Larisa Pavlova, the church’s lawyer in the Pussy Riot trial, asserted that “the patriarch is not a mere citizen; he’s a person with sacred qualities.” This position echoes that of the Church itself. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, acting as chief representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, recently insisted that the courts should try cases “following moral law, which sometimes supersedes [secular] law.” In a July 19 article on the Vzglyad web site, Alexander Razuvayev writes: “After the collapse of communism, an ideological vacuum formed in Russia. To a large extent, the collapse of communism itself was a result of the aggressive atheism that communism demanded. … Some pygmy European state might be able to get by without any ideology, but a large, complex social system like Russia cannot exist without ideology. Therefore, the Church in Russia must not be separate from the state.

It must play approximately the same role as before 1917.” The Kremlin's embrace of clericalism is also an attempt to obscure the immense wealth that has come into the hands of the Church as a result of its close ties with the state, under conditions in which the vast majority of the population struggles to make ends meet. This spring, for example, a scandal broke out when it became known that Russian Patriarch Kirill was wearing on his wrist a Breguet watch valued at €30,000. More broadly, the Kremlin systematically appeals to the most unenlightened instincts and reactionary and nationalistic prejudices, trying to maintain the appearance of popular support for the ruling clique of business oligarchs and ex-KGB thugs. President Vladimir Putin personally approved the arrest and trial of the young women, combining it with appeals to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

When he arrived in London for the summer Olympics at the beginning of August, he declared that “if the girls had come to Israel and defiled something there… or had gone to the Caucasus and defiled some kind of sacred shrine of the Muslims, we could not have protected them.” After this statement, he hypocritically claimed that the girls need not be tried “so harshly.” Russia's female punk band protesters jailed for two years | Reuters Fri Aug 17, 2012 | 4:22 PM EDT Russia's female punk band protesters jailed for two years By Timothy Heritage and Maria Tsvetkova | MOSCOW MOSCOW Three women from the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in jail on Friday for staging a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church, a ruling supporters described as his "personal revenge". The group's backers burst into chants of "Shame" outside the Moscow courthouse and said the case showed Putin was cracking down on dissent in his new six-year term as president. Dozens were detained by police when scuffles broke out.

The United States and the European Union condemned the sentence as disproportionate and asked for it to be reviewed, although state prosecutors had demanded a three-year jail term and the maximum sentence possible was seven years. But while the women have support abroad, where their case has been taken up by a long list of celebrities including Madonna, Paul McCartney and Sting, opinion polls show few Russians sympathize with them. "The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules," Judge Marina Syrova told the court as she spent three hours reading the verdict while the women stood watching in handcuffs inside a glass courtroom cage. She declared all three guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, saying they had deliberately offended Russian Orthodox believers by storming the altar of Moscow's main cathedral in February to belt out a "punk prayer" deriding Putin. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Marina Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, giggled as the judge read out the sentences one by one, but portrayed themselves as victims of Soviet-style persecution during the trial that began on July 30.

They have already been in jail for about five months, meaning they will serve another 19, and could be released if Putin were to pardon them. The Orthodox Church hinted it would not oppose such a move by appealing, belatedly, for mercy. Pussy Riot took on two powerful state institutions at once when they burst into Moscow's golden-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral wearing bright ski masks, tights and short skirts to protest against Putin's close ties with the Church. The judge said the three women had "committed an act of hooliganism, a gross violation of public order showing obvious disrespect for society." She rejected their argument that they had no intention of offending Russian Orthodox believers. It became one of Russia's most high-profile trials since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Putin's critics said it put the 59-year-old Kremlin leader's policies in the dock. Opponents depicted it as part of a crackdown by the ex-KGB spy against a protest movement that took off over the winter, attracting what witnesses said were crowds of up to 100,000 people in Moscow to oppose his return to power.

"They are in jail because it is Putin's personal revenge," Alexei Navalny, one of the organizers of the protests, said outside the court. "This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin." A police source told Itar-Tass news agency 50 people had been detained near the court when scuffles broke out. Among them were Sergei Udaltsov, a leftist opposition leader, and Garry Kasparov, a Putin critic and former world chess champion. But there was no sign of the opposition taking to the streets in anger. Opposition leaders plan a small gathering in Moscow on Sunday, the anniversary of a failed coup shortly before the Soviet Union fell in 1991, but the next big anti-Putin rally is not planned until September 15. Putin's spokesman did not immediately comment on the verdict but the president's supporters said before the trial that he would have no influence on the court's decision. Although Pussy Riot have never made a record or had a hit song, foreign singers have led the campaign for the trio's release. Madonna performed in Moscow with "PUSSY RIOT" painted on her back and wearing a ski mask in solidarity.

But a poll of Russians released by the independent Levada research group showed only 6 percent sympathized with the women and 51 percent found nothing good about them or felt irritation or hostility. The rest could not say or were indifferent. Valentina Ivanova, 60, a retired doctor, said outside the courtroom: "What they did showed disrespect towards everything, and towards believers first of all." CHURCH CALLS FOR MERCY Putin, who returned to the presidency for a third term on May 7 after a four-year spell as prime minister, had said the women did "nothing good" but should not be judged too harshly. The trio's defense lawyers said they would appeal. The Church issued a statement condemning the women's actions but urged the state to show mercy "within the framework of the law". That appeared to signal that the Church would back a pardon or reduced sentence, although the women would be expected to admit guilt if they sought a pardon. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was concerned about the "disproportionate sentences ... and the negative impact on freedom of expression in Russia", and urged Russian authorities "to review this case".

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the sentence called into question Russia's respect for the "obligations of fair, transparent, and independent legal process". In protests outside Russia in support of Pussy Riot, a bare-chested feminist activist took a chainsaw to a wooden cross bearing a figure of Christ in Kiev. In Bulgaria, sympathizers put Pussy Riot-style masks on statues at a Soviet Army monument. Opposition leaders say Putin will not ease up on opponents in his new term. Parliament has already rushed through laws increasing fines for protesters, tightening controls on the Internet, and imposing stricter rules on defamation. Gay rights suffered a blow in Moscow when an appeals court upheld a ruling rejecting applications from activists to hold a gay rights march each year for the next 100 years. Anti-gay activists later sued Madonna for $10 million in St Petersburg, saying she insulted their feelings by speaking out for gay rights there last week.

(Additional reporting by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya, Alissa de Carbonnel, Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Olzhas Auyezov in Kiev; Editing by Alastair Macdonald, Will Waterman and Giles Elgood) ADVERTISEMENT 1/14 Members of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'' (R-L) Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina sit in a glass-walled cage after a court hearing in Moscow, August 17, 2012. Reuters/Maxim Shemetov + 2/14 Members of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'' (R-L) Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich sit in a glass-walled cage during a court hearing in Moscow, August 17, 2012. A Russian judge delivers a verdict on Friday against three members of the Pussy Riot punk band whose trial for staging an anti-Kremlin protest in a church has provoked an international outcry against President Vladimir Putin.

Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin + 3/14 New York Police Department officers arrest a woman demonstrating in solidarity with the Russian punk band Pussy Riot in front of the Russian Consulate in New York August 17, 2012. Reuters/Lucas Jackson + 4/14 Police detain a supporter of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'' for violation of law and order in Moscow, August 17, 2012. Reuters/Maxim Shemetov + 5/14 Protestors gather outside the Russian Consulate General building during a demonstration of support for the female Russian female punk band Pussy Riot in Edinburgh, Scotland August 17, 2012. Reuters/David Moir + 6/14 Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (C), a member of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'', is escorted by police before a court hearing in Moscow August 17, 2012. Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva + 7/14 A masked man attends a rally, in support of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, in Sydney August 17, 2012.

Reuters/Daniel Munoz + 8/14 Maria Alyokhina (C), a member of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'', is escorted by police before a court hearing in Moscow, August 17, 2012. Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva + 9/14 Yekaterina Samutsevich (R), a member of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'', is escorted by police before a court hearing in Moscow, August 17, 2012. Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva + 10/14 Yekaterina Samutsevich, a member of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'', is escorted by police before a court hearing in Moscow, August 17, 2012. Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva + 11/14 A woman plays drums during a rally, in support of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, in Sydney August 17, 2012.

Reuters/Daniel Munoz + 12/14 Protesters march through midtown Manhattan while demonstrating in solidarity with the Russian punk band Pussy Riot in New York August 17, 2012. Reuters/Brendan McDermid + 13/14 New York Police Department officers arrest a woman demonstrating in solidarity with the Russian punk band Pussy Riot in front of the Russian Consulate in New York August 17, 2012. Reuters/Lucas Jackson + 14/14 Activists wear masks with a tape pasted over their mouths in support of members of the female punk band Pussy Riot and during a protest rally in front of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw August 17, 2012.

Reuters/Kacper Pempel + August | 2012 | Tragic Farce Tragic Farce First and Second Thoughts About Culture and Politics Menu by christofpierson Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist collective and punk rock band, three of whose members (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevic) were recently sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism,” have just released an answer to that sentence in the form of a blood-racing and rather catchy rocker of an anthem . Don DeLuca, music critic of the Philadelphia Inquirer, posted an informative little piece about the group and the song . These women are serious punks! Rate this: by christofpierson Good question with an obvious answer: You’re more likely to be hit by lightning than you are to commit voter fraud at the polls. So why are Republicans so set on passing voter ID laws and other measures to stop this non-existent threat? According to Ari Berman , it’s all part of the GOP’s strategy to suppress the Democrat-leaning voter blocks of young people, people of color and immigrants.

Rate this: by christofpierson Immanuel Kant: “If an offender has committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death.”. “A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral.” Cited by Dudley Sharp in comments on a previous post Continuing a conversation begun here and taken up by commenter Dudley Sharp (for whose contribution I’m grateful), I want to turn to Sharp’s “MORAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE DEATH PENALTY, Part I) (See the comment linked to above–and I hope Sharp will share Part II or more). I probably won’t spend much time addressing the religious arguments–or I may come back to them later. I will just say that I don’t believe any human is capable of speaking for the alleged ultimate authority on morality, which many name “God.” I think it’s more fruitful to assume that justice on earth is more of a political or social problem than a cosmic one.

So let me focus on Sharp’s “foundations” that jibe with that view, such as the argument from “Kant” above for starters. Continue reading → Rate this: by christofpierson My last post on Sierre Leone’s NGO Fambul Tok was based on my viewing several weeks ago of the 2011 film of the same name , directed by Sara Terry and co-produced by Libby Hoffman, which I highly recommend for anyone interested in questions of crime, punishment, and justice. In brief, it concerns the NGO’s work in Sierra Leone’s communities with reconciling victims and perpetrators of the country’s civil war, which lasted from 1991-2002. It begins at a bonfire in a small village with a rape victim confronting and eventually forgiving the rapist, her uncle. In another village, former best friends are reconciled; one, as an impressed child soldier for the rebels, had killed the other’s father. A sister of a notorious rebel leader, who remains missing, begs and receives forgiveness on her brother’s behalf from the cousins and neighbors whose families he had brutalized by torture, rape and murder.

As the film explains through its central spokesperson John Caulker, Fambul Tok was developed as an alternative to the post-war commissions that had, until the film was released, prosecuted only a handful of war criminals, none of them of top rank. The cost to the nation of that nearly decade-long Western-style process was in the tens of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, Fambul Tok’s brand of justice had cost about $US 1 million since it was founded in 2007 until the film’s release last year and had reconciled hundreds of former antagonists. Continue reading → Rate this: by christofpierson As I was saying yesterday , we Americans carry with us a pretty basic understanding of how “justice” is officially carried out in our names, and we “law-abiding” ones don’t usually give it much thought other than to see it as a deterrent to any “criminal” urges we or our fellow citizens might have. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, if it really does deter people from injuring others in some way. I think most would agree that when a person is violent or injurious to other people, we want that person’s liberty restrained so that they aren’t able to cause harm anymore.

The question becomes, however, how long should their liberty be taken from them? And beyond that, who is responsible for dispensing this justice and why them? (And, furthermore, who guards the guards? ) Continue reading → Rate this: by christofpierson I’ve been absent from this blog for a while, feeling frankly too hopeless about the political situation to pick up on my usual themes and too busy reading for pay as a professional reviewer to have much time to explore other ideas. But I have been thinking about something that I’d like to begin exploring on this blog, just setting aside the question of whether it can ever become a more generally salient idea for discussion elsewhere, let alone a movement for radical change. In a word: I’d like to propose a radical rethinking of justice, crime and punishment. Russian punk band found guilty of ‘hooliganism,’ given two-year jail sentence Russian punk band found guilty of ‘hooliganism,’ given two-year jail sentence Dylan Stableford Tweet Share Three members of Pussy Riot --a Russian punk band and feminist collective that mocked Russian president Vladamir Putin during a "punk prayer" in a Moscow cathedral--have been found guilty of hooliganism and sentenced to two years in jail.

Judge Marina Syrova announced the verdict from a district court in central Moscow, about two miles from the Christ the Saviour Cathedral where the guerrilla group performed its "flash" stunt. "The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules," Syrova said. The band members--Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30--were arrested on March 3, several weeks after the performance, and charged with "hooliganism." They've been in jail ever since. [Slideshow: Russian feminist punk band on trial ] Supporters outside the courthouse chanted "Shame!" as news of the verdict spread. "They are in jail because it is Putin's personal revenge," Alexei Navalny, one of them, told Reuters . "This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin." The trial drew enormous international interest, sparking catcalls from international free-speech advocates and spawning dozens of protests. There were several impromptu protests in Moscow, London, Paris, Barcelona and elsewhere on Friday, and numerous reports of arrests .

Madonna, Bjork, Paul McCartney and Courtney Love were among a long list of musicians to come out in support of Pussy Riot, calling on the Russian government to set the band members free. Last week in Berlin, more than 400 people joined a protest led by electro-singer Peaches. "In one of the most extravagant displays," the Associated Press said, "Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr rode through the streets of the Icelandic capital in a Gay Pride parade ... dressed like a band member--wearing a bright pink dress and matching balaclava--while lip-synching to one of Pussy Riot's songs." What started as "a punk-infused political prank," London's Independent said, "has rapidly snowballed into one of the most notorious court cases in post-Soviet Russian history." Five members of the group, which formed in 2011, were arrested in January after a video of a Putin-baiting performance in Moscow's Red Square circulated online. They were detained for several hours by police, fined and released, NPR said . But the 10-member Pussy Riot, inspired by the American "riot grrrl" movement and bands like Bikini Kill, vowed more protest performances.

Pussy Riot's stunt at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church, was a response, they said, to Patriarch Kirill's public support of Putin in the build-up to Russia's presidential election. Putin won a third term as president in March. "Holy Mother, send Putin packing!" the group sang. The Guardian called the trial, which began on July 30, "worse than Soviet era." "By the end of the first week of Pussy Riot's trial," the Guardian's Miriam Elder wrote last week , "everyone in the shabby Moscow courthouse was tired. Guards, armed with submachine guns, grabbed journalists and threw them out of the room at will. The judge, perched in front of a shabby Russian flag, refused to look at the defense. And the police dog--a 100 [pound] black Rottweiler--no longer sat in the corner she had occupied since the start of Russia's trial of the year, but barked and foamed at the mouth as if she were in search of blood." Lawyers for the women complained during the trial that the trio were being starved and tortured in prison.

Two threatened to go on a hunger strike after they were initially jailed. "Their treatment has caused deep disquiet among many Russians, who feel the women are--to coin a phrase from the 1967 trial of members of the Rolling Stones--butterflies being broken on a wheel," the BBC's Daniel Sandford wrote . Read More Syrova was subjected to unspecified threats during the trial, Russian authorities announced on Thursday --assigning bodyguards to protect her before and after she announced the verdict. Several Russian pop stars, though, questioned the outpouring of support for Pussy Riot. "What is so great about Pussy Riot that all these international stars support them?" Russian singer Valeria wrote on her website, according to Reuters . "They must be saying this because someone ordered them to." "Art and politics are inseparable for us," the band said in an interview with the online newspaper Gazeta.ru in February . "We try to make political art. Performances and their rehearsals are our job.

Life in Pussy Riot takes a lot of time." Reblog Russian Punk Rockers Sentenced to Jail | PBS NewsHour Extra August 20, 2012 Russian Punk Rockers Sentenced to Jail Three members of Russian feminist punk rock group, Pussy Riot, were convicted of “hooliganism driven by religious hatred” on August 17th and sentenced to two years in jail for their crimes. The all-female group is known for staging impromptu performances ridiculing Russian politics. The judge accused them of “crudely undermining the social order with a disrespectful and unpleasant performance,” with their most recent stunt criticizing current Russian President Vladimir Putin. The trial has gained international attention as it challenges the right to freedom of expression. Band supporters, family members and fellow anti-Putin protesters are claiming that the trial isn’t about an unprecedented act of hooliganism by women, but instead the curtailing of freedom of expression, religion and speech in Russia. Since being charged with a hate crime, the band’s supporters have rallied to accuse the Putin regime of disregarding not only the law, but any right to individual freedoms. Other demonstrators declared that Pussy Riot’s performance was insulting to Orthodox tradition and that Putin’s presidency is a miracle from God.

Pussy Riot’s lawyers have appealed to the Russian legal system for leniency, despite the two-year sentencing being one year less than the prosecution recommended. Regardless, their trial in the court of public opinion continues to rage as Russians debate their country’s role in censoring potentially offensive language. Warm Up Questions Russian punk band found guilty of ‘hooliganism,’ given two-year jail sentence Russian punk band found guilty of ‘hooliganism,’ given two-year jail sentence Dylan Stableford Pin it Share Three members of Pussy Riot --a Russian punk band and feminist collective that mocked Russian president Vladamir Putin during a "punk prayer" in a Moscow cathedral--have been found guilty of hooliganism and sentenced to two years in jail. Judge Marina Syrova announced the verdict from a district court in central Moscow, about two miles from the Christ the Saviour Cathedral where the guerrilla group performed its "flash" stunt. "The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules," Syrova said.

The band members--Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30--were arrested on March 3, several weeks after the performance, and charged with "hooliganism." They've been in jail ever since. [Slideshow: Russian feminist punk band on trial ] Supporters outside the courthouse chanted "Shame!" as news of the verdict spread. "They are in jail because it is Putin's personal revenge," Alexei Navalny, one of them, told Reuters . "This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin." The trial drew enormous international interest, sparking catcalls from international free-speech advocates and spawning dozens of protests. There were several impromptu protests in Moscow, London, Paris, Barcelona and elsewhere on Friday, and numerous reports of arrests . Madonna, Bjork, Paul McCartney and Courtney Love were among a long list of musicians to come out in support of Pussy Riot, calling on the Russian government to set the band members free. Last week in Berlin, more than 400 people joined a protest led by electro-singer Peaches.

"In one of the most extravagant displays," the Associated Press said, "Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr rode through the streets of the Icelandic capital in a Gay Pride parade ... dressed like a band member--wearing a bright pink dress and matching balaclava--while lip-synching to one of Pussy Riot's songs." What started as "a punk-infused political prank," London's Independent said, "has rapidly snowballed into one of the most notorious court cases in post-Soviet Russian history." Five members of the group, which formed in 2011, were arrested in January after a video of a Putin-baiting performance in Moscow's Red Square circulated online. They were detained for several hours by police, fined and released, NPR said . But the 10-member Pussy Riot, inspired by the American "riot grrrl" movement and bands like Bikini Kill, vowed more protest performances. Pussy Riot's stunt at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church, was a response, they said, to Patriarch Kirill's public support of Putin in the build-up to Russia's presidential election. Putin won a third term as president in March.

"Holy Mother, send Putin packing!" the group sang. The Guardian called the trial, which began on July 30, "worse than Soviet era." "By the end of the first week of Pussy Riot's trial," the Guardian's Miriam Elder wrote last week , "everyone in the shabby Moscow courthouse was tired. Guards, armed with submachine guns, grabbed journalists and threw them out of the room at will. The judge, perched in front of a shabby Russian flag, refused to look at the defense. And the police dog--a 100 [pound] black Rottweiler--no longer sat in the corner she had occupied since the start of Russia's trial of the year, but barked and foamed at the mouth as if she were in search of blood." Lawyers for the women complained during the trial that the trio were being starved and tortured in prison. Two threatened to go on a hunger strike after they were initially jailed. "Their treatment has caused deep disquiet among many Russians, who feel the women are--to coin a phrase from the 1967 trial of members of the Rolling Stones--butterflies being broken on a wheel," the BBC's Daniel Sandford wrote .

Syrova was subjected to unspecified threats during the trial, Russian authorities announced on Thursday --assigning bodyguards to protect her before and after she announced the verdict. Several Russian pop stars, though, questioned the outpouring of support for Pussy Riot. "What is so great about Pussy Riot that all these international stars support them?" Russian singer Valeria wrote on her website, according to Reuters . "They must be saying this because someone ordered them to." "Art and politics are inseparable for us," the band said in an interview with the online newspaper Gazeta.ru in February . "We try to make political art. Performances and their rehearsals are our job. Life in Pussy Riot takes a lot of time." Reblog Pussy Riot | New Music And Songs | Pussy Riot About Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk-rock collective based in Moscow. Founded in August 2011, it has a variable membership of approximately 11 women ranging in age from about 20 to 33, who wear brightly colored balaclavas and use only nicknames during interviews. They stage unauthorized provocative guerrilla performances in unusual public locations, which are edited into music videos and posted on the Internet.

Their lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights, opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they regard as a dictator, and links between the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and Putin. Their costumes are usually brightly colored dresses and tights, even in bitterly cold weather, with their faces masked by balaclavas, both while performing and during interviews. During interviews they use nicknames such as "Balaclava", "Cat", "Seraph", "Terminator", and "Blondie". In an interview with Gazeta.ru, a band member described their two-minute concerts as performance art, creating images of "pure protest, saying: super heroes in balaclavas and acid bright tights seize public space in Moscow." Another band member, who goes by the pseudonym Garadzha, told the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper that the group is open to women recruits with limited musical talents. She said: "You don't have to sing very well. It's punk. You just scream a lot." The group cites punk rock and Oi! bands Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Sham 69 and The 4-Skins as their main musical influences.

The band also cite American punk rock band Bikini Kill, Karen Finley and the Riot grrrl movement of the 1990s as inspirations. Tolokonnikova, her husband Pyotr Verzilov, and Samutsevich were all members of the anarchist art collective "Voina" from the group's early days in 2007, until an acrimonious split in 2009. Following the split, they formed a separate Moscow-based group, also named "Voina", saying that they had as much right to use this name as Voina founder Oleg Vorotnikov. Pussy Riot is usually considered to be an offshoot of the "Moscow faction" of Voina. On February 21, 2012, five members of the group staged a performance on the soleas of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Their actions were stopped by church security officials. By evening, they had turned it into a music video entitled "Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!" The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leader's support for Putin during his election campaign.

On March 3, two of the group members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was arrested on March 16. Denied bail, they were held in custody until their trial began in late July. On August 17, 2012, the three members were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, and each was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Two other members of the group, who escaped arrest after February's protest, reportedly left Russia fearing prosecution. On October 10, following an appeal, Samutsevich was freed on probation, her sentence suspended. The sentences of the other two women were upheld. In late October 2012, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were separated and sent to prison. The trial and sentence attracted considerable criticism, particularly in the West. The case was adopted by human rights groups including Amnesty International, which designated the women prisoners of conscience, and by a wide range of musicians including Madonna, Sting, and Yoko Ono. Public opinion in Russia was generally less sympathetic towards the women.

Putin stated that the band had "undermined the moral foundations" of the nation and "got what they asked for." Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he did not think the three members of Pussy Riot should have been sent to jail, but stressed that the release of the remaining two imprisoned members was a matter for the courts. Source: Wikipedia

Question: In August 2012, three members of which Russian feminist punk-rock collective were sentenced to two years in jail for hooliganism?
Answer: Pussy Riot